Anadolu Agency quotes Dinu Patriciu Eurasia Center Resident Senior Fellow Anders Aslund on why Russia’s economic policies could lead to economic problems in the future:
“It is remarkable that Russia sticks to a budget deficit of about 3.5 percent of gross domestic product [while] being involved in two wars,” Anders Aslund, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, said.
While being shackled with the cost of military adventures in Ukraine and Syria, Aslund said reasonable predictions that oil would return to a price of $50 a barrel may prove to be over-optimistic.
[…]
GDP in Russia contracted by 4.1 percent year-on-year in the third quarter of 2015, following a 4.6 percent drop in the previous period.
Aslund said the main question was how much suffering the Russian people could take.